Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold two major election rallies in Jammu and Kashmir today. These events are part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign strategy for the forthcoming state elections. The initial rally is set to take place at Sher-e-Kashmir Park in Srinagar, with an expected turnout of around 30,000 BJP.
Once hotbeds of militancy and street protests,volatile pockets of south Kashmir’s Pulwama, Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian districts on Wednesday (September 18, 2024) showed a significant shift towards participatory democracy, with a total of 59% voting in the first phase. According to J-K Chief Electoral Officer P.K. Pole, Kishtwar recorded the highest turnout of 77% in the first phase of J-K polls, whereas Pulwama recorded the lowest turnout at 46%.
This was the first assembly elections in J-K post abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The last assembly elections were held in 2014. “The Phase 1 of General Elections to the Legislative Assembly of J&K recorded an approximate voter turnout of 61.11 percent as of 11:30 pm. The same shall continue to be updated by the field level officers as the remaining polling parties keep returning, the Election Commission said in a press release late at night.
